His Orange Haired Princess
by Sanura Bey
Summary: Ayame Kurosaki found a new ability while helping a spirit that was being chased by a Hollow. She doesn't know how she stumbled on her new gift but when her brother is given the option she fights him on it. What will happen when she joins him on his quest to not only protect their town but learn more about her one past.
1. Secrets out

Karakura Town

7:30 P.M., Friday

"What the...!?" a man asked staring at the two of us. "You come here, stomp Li'l Yama in the face, and order us out like we was dogs?!"

"You crazy, punk? Got a deathwish? Speak!" I looked at my twin and could see him growing more annoyed at the boys surrounding us. I looked down at my feet and remembered why we were doing this again.

* * *

Ichigo "Strawberry" and Ayame "Iris" Kurosaki:

15 Years Old

Hair: Orange

Eyes: Brown

Occupation: High School Student

* * *

"Say something, you..." Ichigo raised his foot at our attacker's face and let him run into his foot.

* * *

Special Skill:

* * *

"Lord Buddha..." one of the two still standing said as their friend fell.

"He dropped Li'l Toshi!"

"Do you think they come up with these names on their own?" I asked Ichigo and he just smirked.

"I hope not."

"This is messed up... Real messed up... that's one bloodthirsty Berry Head."

"That guy's a total stone-cold psycho! Mess with him, and he'll **kill** you!"

"Shut up!" Ichigo shouted stepping on one of them. "All of you chumps, look at that!" Ichigo pointed at the bottle that was knocked over next to my feet. "Question one! What's that?! You smelly lookin' dude! You tell me!"

"Huh? M-me? Really?" the boy asked. "Umm... an offering for some dead kid?"

"Check out the brain on smelly!" Ichigo kicked the guy in the face knocking him down.

"Li'l Mitch!"

"Question two!"

"Li'l Mitch?!"

"Why is that vase... lying on its side?"

* * *

Ichigo "Strawberry and Ayame "Iris" Kurosaki

15 years old

Hair Color: Orange

Eye Color: Brown

Occupation: High School Student

* * *

"Dat's 'cuz... We knocked it over with our skateboards?" the other one asked.

"Is that so?"

* * *

Special Skill... They can see Ghosts

* * *

"Then you better apologize to **her,** hadn't you!?" Ichigo pointed at the little girl who had blood covering one of her eyes and was hiding behind me. the boys screamed in fear before running away.

"WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY!"

"DON'T HURT US! WE'LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN!"

"Heh... I don't think they'll be back," Ichigo told the girl.

"And if they are, you know where to find us," I told her offering a kind smile.

"Sorry for using you like that," Ichigo said.

"That's okay. I asked you to get rid of 'em," she reminded us. "I was glad to help."

"We'll bring fresh flowers soon," I promised her.

"Okay. Thank you," she said with her own smile. "Now I can rest peacefully."

"No problem," Ichigo said. "Yeah, you rest in peace."

* * *

 **It's true. We can see and talk with ghosts. Our family runs the local clinic. We're entrusted with the lives of the living. Maybe there's some connection to why my siblings and I can see spirits.**

* * *

"We're home..." Ichigo called out and I ducked as our dad kicked Ichigo in the head.

"You're late!" Dad said. "Do you two know what time it is, Delinquents?! Dinner in this house is at 7 o'clock sharp, every night!"

"Jerk!" Ichigo shouted as he stood up. "Is that how you greet your son who just helped a ghost find peace?!"

"No excuses!" dad shouted back at him as I went to sit next to one of my younger sisters. "The rules of my house are iron! You break 'em, you gotta bleed! Or maybe you want to rub it in my face that you can see ghosts and I can't!? Why can't I have the gift?! Why?!"

"I didn't ask for it!"

"Shut up!"

"Please stop fighting!" Yuzu asked them. "Dinner's getting cold!"

"Let them fight, Yuzu," Karin told her. "Leaves more for us."

"Don't we all know it," I said grabbing some dinner.

"Your rules are way too strict!" Ichigo yelled at him. "Decent fathers don't make their teenage children be home by 7:00!"

"Ichigo, there's another one following you around," I told him.

"Hey!" The male ghost greeted.

"Geez, when did you...?" Ichigo asked. "I exorcise one and another latches onto me! Crap!"

"They see then, talks to them, touch them and channel them," Karin said. "A quadruple threat. Must be a pain, Strawberry, Iris, to be in such high demand."

"But you know, we're bound to be a little envious of you, Ichigo. They're just blurry shapes to me," Yuzu said. "I'd love to see one clearly."

"Not me," Karin said. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"But can't you see them clearly, too?" I asked her.

"I'm in permanent denial," Karin told us. "If I refuse to believe in them, it's like they don't exist."

"That's cold," I commented.

"So, here's my latest plan," Karin said. ""Want to flirt with ghosts while being caressed by the first breeze of summer? A limited engagement for the month of May, the Karuizawa Ghost Picnic.""

"Dammit, Karin!" Ichigo shouted.

"Cherry Blossom watching was last month, right?" Yuzu asked.

"You're not making money off our grief!" Ichigo ordered. "We're not freakshows!"

"Dropped your guard!" Dad shouted grabbing Ichigo's foot and knocking him to the ground. Dad stared at Ichigo curiously before Ichigo threw him off.

* * *

 **For real... We've been able to see ghosts for as long as we could remember. We can see the dead as well as we see living. So...**

* * *

"Oh! Ichigo!" Yuzu called after him as he left.

"That's it! I'm going to bed!" Ichigo called out.

"He left," Karin noted as we heard the door to Ichigo's room close. "It's your fault, dad."

"What'd I do?!" Dad asked her.

"Ichigo's been under a lot of stress," I told him, stretching my arms above my head. "We've been seeing more ghosts than ever and he's fed up with it."

"What?! He talks about stuff like that with you!" Dad asked me.

"Duh, I'm his twin," I reminded him. "I'll take some supper to his room later if you want to separate some of it for him," I told Yuzu who nodded at the suggestion.

"That boy... why doesn't he come to **me** with his problems?"

"Are you serious?" Karin asked him. "I wouldn't bring my problems to you either. You're over 40 yet possess the emotional maturity of a preschooler."

"Aw... Mother..." Dad floated over to a large poster of our mother. "Maybe it's because they've hit puberty, but our daughters treat me like dirt..."

"First, take down that stupid memorial picture," Karin told him.

* * *

 **The existence of Soul Reapers had never crossed my brother's mind, but I knew the truth. I'd discovered something about myself a few years ago that I couldn't share with the one person who I shared everything: my twin brother.**

* * *

Sometime later, dad went upstairs to complain to Ichigo about the noise he was making. After he came downstairs I sighed when he cried pathetically about Ichigo's treatment of him. While this was odd, this was our family and I wouldn't change a bit about it. It wasn't until after I was going up to my room, I heard it. The loud roar of a monster outside. What the hell was it doing so close to our home? I ducked when a crash sounded from downstairs and a scream promptly followed.

"Yuzu!" I shouted going back down to them. I ran to the monster but was backhanded by it. My back slammed into the wall and it went for Karin. I got up and summoned my blade and ran to it. When I pulled my blade I left my body behind and my soul had on its black outfit. My blade was thin but just as deadly as a larger one. Dad had already been thrown around and been hurt and the monster tried to grab Yuzu, but I cut off its hand before it could get to her and, just as I was about to attack again...

"Ayame!" I turned to see Ichigo staring at me

"Ichigo? What are you staring at?! Get out of here!" While I was distracted, the monster grabbed me with his other hand. I dropped my sword and screamed as it started to squeeze me tightly. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Ichigo grab a bat and try to attack it, but it simply swatted him away, as it had done me. It moved towards Ichigo, but a stranger I didn't notice before cut its arm and I dropped from its now open grip.

"Ayame!" Ichigo caught me when I fell and held me tightly. "Ayame! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," I told him, wincing in pain.

"Stay calm, boy! The Hollow has not eaten any of your family's souls yet! You! Soul Reaper! What Division are you with?" the mystery girl asked me.

"The hell you talking about?" I asked her getting up and grabbing my sword once again.

"Wait..." Ichigo said stopping whatever she was going to say. "It hasn't eaten their souls yet?"

"Not even the soul of your father who lies on the floor!" she told him.

"Wait! You said the Hollows attack people to eat their souls!?" Ichigo said.

"That thing has a name?" I asked him confused.

"Why'd that thing attack my family..." Ichigo asked.

"Hollows are drawn to high levels of spirit energy, but they also attack opportunistically," she told him.

"What's that mean?" Ichigo asked her.

"I have never known a human who could see soul reapers or break a binding spell before." I saw her glance at my discarded body. "Or one who could shed their mortal bodies and become soul reapers. I have never heard of humans with so much spirit energy. I believe he was looking for the two of you!" I froze at her words. Was that thing after us? That's why it attacked our family? I looked down at my dad, bleeding on the floor, and Yuzu, a scratch on her cheek and knocked out on the ground. A streak of blood where Karin had dragged her body upstairs to warn Ichigo.

"What?! He was after us?!" Ichigo asked.

"They're dying cause of us?..." I asked quietly.

"Wait..." the woman said. "That is not what I meant..." Suddenly, the Hollow backhanded the girl into the wall across from the house.

"Soul Reaper!" Ichigo called for her. The Hollow turned back to us and we stared up at him. I gripped my sword in anger at it hurting my family.

"I've had enough of you!" Ichigo yelled. I stood in front of the Hollow with Ichigo close by.

"Hey!" I called up to it, drawing it towards me. "You want a soul?! Come and get it you son of a bitch!"

"Forget the others!" Ichigo called out to him. "Then fight me like a man! Kill me!" the Hollow attacked, but before it could get us, the girl jumped in front of its mouth. It chomped down on her, seeming to nearly bite her in two.

"Soul Reaper!" Ichigo called to her as she fell to her knees before falling on her front.

"You... Fools..." she said. "Fool... Did you think it would be over if you gave him your souls? Then you are fools!"

"I'm sorry..." Ichigo said as I looked away. "I just wanted to..."

"I fear... I cannot console you... I am too badly injured to fight it..." she told us. "It is a matter of time... until we all become its food."

* * *

 **This was all our fault... Why did we have to be such freaks... Even in our family... We were all going to die... and it's all our fault...**

* * *

"Do you wish to save your family?" she suddenly asked.

"Just tell me how!" Ichigo asked him quickly. "I'll do anything! Tell me!"

"There is a way... I should say... There's only one normal way..." the girl told us. She picked up her sword and pointed it at Ichigo. "You must follow your sister's example and become a Soul Reaper!"

"What?" Ichigo asked her. "What're you talking about? I can't be a..."

"You can!" the girl insisted. "I don't know how your sister became a Soul Reaper, but if you place the point of the Zanpakuto, Ghostcutter, over your heart and I infuse you with half of my Soul Reaper powers - my dark force! You will temporarily have the powers of a Soul Reaper. To give you two a change against the Hollow."

"No," I told them, turning back to the monster. "He won't have to. Tell me where to cut it and I'll destroy it."

"Would you be able to do something like that?" he asked her ignoring me.

"I do not know," she answered. "Perhaps, because your soul is so powerful, but the chance of success is low, and, if we fail, you die!"

"That's another reason not to do it," I told him.

"If he is to help you there is no other way, nor is their time to ponder it," she told him.

"Ichigo..." he turned to me. "This is dangerous and either way, you could die. I've been fighting these things for a few months now. I can kill it on my own." He just stared down at me before smirking. He turned to the girl and walked to her.

"Gimme the sword, Soul Reaper! We'll try your plan!"

"Not "Soul Reaper"," she told him. "I am Rukia Kuchiki."

"Oh... Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meetchya. Let's pray this won't be our last meeting," Ichigo told her.

"Ayame Kurosaki," I introduced.

"The Hollow's coming," Rukia said. "We must hurry." He grabbed the hilt of the sword and pointed it at his heart.

"Ready?"

"Yes." I turned away as she stabbed my brother in the chest. I had to shield my eyes from the light before the Hollow's other arm was cut off. Behind the Hollow was my brother with a large blade nearly the size he was.

"No, I meant for only half..." Rukia said behind me. "I have lost all of my powers..." The Hollow ran at Ichigo and Ichigo cut off his foot.

"That's for attacking my family you fish-faced freak!" I attacked from behind it as Ichigo attacked from the front. Both of us cutting its head in three.

* * *

Ichigo "Strawberry" and Ayame "Iris" Kurosaki: 15 years old

Hair: Orange

Eyes: Brown

Occupation: High School Student/Soul Reaper


	2. Starter

I sat on my bed staring out the window. I hadn't gotten any sleep last night due to what happened. My brother found out my secret and became a Soul Reaper, thanks to that girl. When my alarm went off, I just continued to let it try and wake me.

"Ayame." I turned to see Yuzu, uninjured.

"Yuzu? What happened?" I asked her.

"A truck hit the house, but we're all okay," she said smiling.

"A truck?"

* * *

We went outside, and I stood next to Ichigo staring up at the boarded-up portion of the house in shock.

"What a miracle!" Dad started saying. "A truck crashes into our house, and nobody gets a scratch!"

"Double miracle, none of us even woke up!" Yuzu added. "Oh! Breakfast is ready, Ichigo! Ayame!"

"Some miracle," Karin sighed. "The jerk left us the repair bill. This family, geez..." Why don't they remember what happened?

"It's okay! He'll show up to apologize someday!" Dad told her.

"No, he won't!"Karin yelled at him.

"You guys are going to be late if you don't eat fast," Yuzu told the rest of us, and I looked back at the three of them. Their wounds have vanished, and they think a truck hit the house? My mind flashed to that girl who'd been here last night. Was it her? She mentioned something about a division. Did she go back to where she'd come from? Damn... I was hoping to ask her questions about what had happened to Ichigo and me. I glanced at my brother from the corner of my eyes. I was glad he'd lived, don't get me wrong, but...

"Ayame." I turned fully to look at him. "We have to talk about last night later."

"Ok," I agreed.

* * *

"A truck?!" We heard one of our friends, Tatsuki, shout out from the classroom. "So?! Are they hurt?! Or maybe dead..." Ichigo hit the back of her head with his bag to stop her talking.

"Alive," he corrected her. "Sorry to disappoint you, we all survived."

"Ichigo! Ayame!" Orihime, Tatsuki's best friend, said with slightly red cheeks and a large grin on her face. "G-Good morning!"

"Huh? right..." Ichigo said getting sweat drops on the back of his head. "You're happy as usual, Orihime."

"You're here," Mizuiro said as Ichigo, and I sat down. "Weren't you fixing your house?"

"Yeah," Ichigo sighed.

"What's third period again?" I asked him.

"Contemporary events."

"That's Miss Ochi," I sighed.

"She won't ask annoying questions, at least," Ichigo reminded me.

"True."

"Are you the Kurosaki twins?" I heard from behind me. My eyes widened before I turned to see the girl from last night. "Nice to meet you!"

"Oh!" Mizuiro said, remembering something. "This is Rukia Kuchiki. She started here this morning. It's an unusual time to transfer, but her family had to move."

"Why are you..." Ichigo tried asking, but couldn't seem to get the words out.

"What?" Mizuiro asked confused.

"Ichigo, I don't have any textbooks yet," Rukia told him, holding her hand out. "Do you mind sharing yours with me?" I glanced at her hand and read: Make a scene, and you're so dead. What the hell was going on?

* * *

We walked with Rukia behind us to where the three of us could talk alone.

"How far are we going?" Rukia asked us. "Such a secluded place. What's on your mind, big boy?"

"Don't say stuff like that, it's disgusting!" he yelled at her.

"Disgusting?" Rukia asked. "How rude. I spent the whole night learning colloquialisms! Not bad, eh?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have skipped the lesson on when to use them right," I told her.

"Explain why you're here!" Ichigo ordered.

"Explain?"

"That's right! Isn't your work here finished?! Why are you sneaking into my class? Why didn't you go back to the Soul Society or whatever?!" he fired off at her.

"What's the Soul Society?" I asked confused.

"It's where Soul Reapers train and live," she told me. "And I'd have to be a Soul Reaper to return to the Soul Society! I can't go back."

"Huh? Why not?" Ichigo asked her.

"Because I lost all my Dark Force!"

"What..." Ichigo asked confused. "You lost your powers? What are they socks? Where did they go?"

"Where do you think, idiot?!" I asked him.

"Inside you," Rukia told him. "Not in your body, but your soul. You've become a Soul Reaper, like your sister."

"But how did she become one?" Ichigo asked her.

"I don't know, but I plan to find that out while I'm here," she told us, and I nodded before she turned to Ichigo. "Last night, you stole all my powers from me! I can only do a few Demonic Spells now, and I have to rely on this Gigai!"

"What's a Gigai?" I asked her.

"A temporary body we Soul Reapers use in emergencies. Disempowered Soul Reapers inhabit Gigais until their powers return," she explained.

"That's a Gig-thing? It looks human," Ichigo commented.

"It has to. I'd be easy prey for a hollow without my power, so I have to disguise myself as a human," she told him.

"So?" Ichigo asked her. "What does a powerful Soul Reaper want with me?"

"Here it is! The point!" she said, and I felt sweat drops go down my head. "Until I regain my powers you two have to do the work of a Soul Reaper!"

"Huh?!" Ichigo yelled at her.

"What's the problem?" Rukia asked her. "You have the powers of a Soul Reaper now. And I'll help you. You have no choice; this really is all your fault."

"I've been doing this for months already," I reminded her.

"And I'll train you on anything you need improvement on," she said.

"No way!" Ichigo said, crossing his arms in front of his face.

"Excuse me?" Rukia asked him, not having expected Ichigo to decline her order.

"I said no way!" Ichigo repeated. "I don't want to face any more of those monsters."

"Wait a second!" Rukia said stopping him from leaving. "You..."

"Yesterday?" Ichigo asked anticipating her words. "I fought that thing yesterday to save my family! I'm not gonna fight those things for total strangers! I'm not that self-sacrificing! Sorry to disappoint you."

"Ichigo!" I yelled at him. "You can't just leave people alone like that! They need help just like our family did last night!"

"Very well..." Rukia said pulling our attention back to her. "You leave me no choice!" She slipped on a red glove with what looked like a skull sitting in a black flame.

"What are you..." Rukia rushed him and hit his chin. His soul separated from his body and came out looking as he did last night. A Soul Reaper. She quickly turned and hit my chest, forcing my soul from my body. "Whoa! Dude?! That's my soul?!"

"What the hell did you do that for?!" I asked her.

"Hey! Wake up, me!"

"You two." We both calmed down before turning back to her. "Come with me."

* * *

We followed her all the way to a park, and I got even more confused.

"You..."

"Just wait," she ordered. "It won't be long."

"What won't be long?!" Ichigo asked her.

"It's already been 20 minutes," I sighed leaning on the fence behind us.

"Do ghosts come to this park?" Rukia asked us.

"One does," I told her. "Five-year-old boy who plays in the park around noon every day. Guess that's when his mom used to bring him."

"A friend?" Rukia asked us.

"We've seen him a couple of times, that's all," Ichigo told her. "I've never even talked to him. So, what's the big deal?" She pushed a cell phone in his face.

"A cell phone?" I asked confused.

"My orders from the Soul Society came in on this phone," she explained. "12:00 p.m., plus or minus 15 minutes. Within a 20 meter radius of Yumizawa Children's Park. A hollow will appear. Probably, it will attack the child." I snatched the phone from her hands and read the words she had just said. We heard someone screaming, and we all turned to see the five-year-old running from a large spider looking hollow. Ichigo and I immediately jumped the fence and started for the boy, but... "Wait!" We turned to Rukia confused. "He's a complete stranger, isn't he? Are you really going to help him?"

"Are you crazy!?" Ichigo asked her.

"We can't just stand here and watch that kid's soul be eaten!" I told her.

"Before your eyes, or out of sight they're going to be attacked either way!" Rukia explained. Behind us, the kid fell, and I went to help him again, but Rukia stopped me. "Don't help him! Even if you save him now, he'll just get eaten later unless you do my job! You'd save him just because you happen to be nearby?! That's not how it works! A Soul Reaper must be fair to all ghosts! Only saving them when it's convenient won't do! So don't help the child unless you can commit! If you are going to save him now, you must try and save them all! Be willing to go anywhere! Even be willing to sacrifice yourself for them!" Sacrifice ourselves, huh? I remembered she nearly died to protect us last night. Ichigo gripped his large sword and ran up to the hollow and cut off its leg. I jumped up, and place ran my sword through the hollows head as it slid on the ground away from the kid. "Ichigo... Ayame... you made your decisions?" Ichigo slammed his sword down in front of the kid.

"I don't buy all the self-sacrifice and commitment crap!" Ichigo told her. "I helped him because I was here! So what are you gonna do about it!"

"What?"

"What about you?" He asked her. "You sacrificed yourself that night to save me! Was that just your duty as a Soul Reaper?!"

"Duty is no reason to sacrifice your life!" I added. "There's never a reason you should ever sacrifice something so precious to others with that on your mind! You can't tell us you were thinking of your duty when you protected us!"

"I'm not ready to commit to this," Ichigo told her. "I might just run next time stuff gets hectic. I can't always promise I'll always be willing to risk my life for a stranger, but I know I owe you a large debt! And I'm not a total scum bag!"

"We'll help you out as much as we can," I told her. "But we also have normal lives to live here. So, we'll do what we can with this Soul Reaper job."

"Alright," Rukia said smiling at us. "Good luck then."


	3. Head-Hittin'

"I know about it, my sister. It's all hidden in that box, isn't it? The Jade box that mother gave you. Give me that box, my sister Marianne! Go on! No! Don't open that box! Francoise! Noooo!"

"Hey, what the heck are you doing?!" Rukia squealed in surprise at Ichigo who stood over her with a baseball bat over his shoulder.

"Oooh! You scared me!" she shouted at him.

"I think that was the point," I laughed.

"I'm studying the contemporary vernacular of this world!"

"You were not," Ichigo denied.

"Why are you using that to study again?" I asked.

"You were readin' a stupid horror comic trainin' my soul reaper butt off? Where'd you find it, anyway? And why don't you have to train?" he asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I've been at this game for a while," I reminded him. "You're getting the crash course."

"Huh? You're done already?" Rukia asked confused.

"I hit these stupid pepper balls a hundred times, right?" he asked her. "I'm done! what's this supposed to accomplish, anyway? And where'd you get the weird pitching machine?"

"Fool!" She shouted at him. "Only the wrong balls had pepper in them!"

"Wrong balls?"

"That's right!" They stared at each other for a moment. "You didn't... hit every single one, did you?"

"Yes! Great!"

"You idiot! I told you to hit only the balls with the heads! What's the point of the exercise?!" she shouted at him and I sighed. They'd been doing this a lot since Ichigo and I agreed to help her out.

"How should I know?! And it's impossible to tell the head from the hands the way you draw!"

"Listen! The head is a Hollow's weak spot! One good whack will split it open like a melon!" Rukia explained. "The training will help you crack heads with precision, whatever the situation!"

"Why do I gotta do that?" Ichigo asked her. "I've been beating 'em just fine."

"Fool! When did you ever defeat a Hollow with one blow?! Approaching a Hollow from behind and killing it with one blow is the essence of Hollow hunting! It's a miracle that the two of you survived fighting them as you have!"

"Hey don't pull me into this!"

"Hitting them from behind is unfair, I can't do it!" he told her.

"Fool!" She really likes that word, doesn't she? "Save the code of Bushido for human foes! Hollows are your prey! Fairness doesn't apply here! That kind of thinking will get you killed!"

"... I just..."

"HI ICHIGO!" We all screamed in shock at Orihime appearing behind us.

"Ohihime! Wh-What are you doing here?!" Ichigo asked her.

"Hee hee! Shopping for dinner!" She told us happily. "I bought leeks, butter, bananas, and Bean Jam Jelly!" What the hell is she planning to cook with that? "What are you doing here Ichigo?"

"Huh? Me? I'm uh... um..." That was when Orihime saw Rukia behind us.

"Rukia?!"

"Huh? Do I know you?" Rukia asked her.

"Idiot!" Ichigo whisper yelled at her. "She's Orihime Inoue! She's in our class!"

"In our class?!" Rukia whisper yelled in surprise. "Well hello, Miss Inoue. How do you do, my dear!" Rukia curtsied and Orihime curtsied back.

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you."

"What the hell just happened?" I whispered to Ichigo watching them.

"I don't know."

"Your arm... what happened?" Ichigo asked her. "You fall again?"

"Huh? Oh this? No! I was run over!" She told us with a big grin on her face.

"Run over?!" Ichigo and I shouted.

"By a car?!" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah. I went out to buy a drink last night and- bam! I've been getting run over a lot lately. Hee hee."

"No hee hee! That's serious! Aren't you upset?!" Ichigo asked her.

"But they didn't hit me on purpose," she told us.

"But still..." I told her. "You have to be more careful.

"That bruise on your leg?" Rukia asked suddenly. "May I take a look?"

"Huh? This?" Ichigo asked her. "Sure, go ahead. I got this last night. It must've happened when the car hit me..." We watched Rukia inspect the bruise closely.

"Rukia? Why are you looking like that?" Orihime asked.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing," Rukia told her. "It just looks so painful."

"How did you know?!" Orihime asked shocked. "My leg hurts worse than my arm!"

"Really?!" Ichigo asked her shocked.

"How can a bruise hurt more than something that needed to be wrapped up?!" I asked her.

"Maybe it's paralyzed or something?!" Ichigo suggested.

"You should go to the doctor!"

"Huh? ... Um..."

"Why are you blushing?" Ichigo asked her and I rolled my eyes at him. Why are boys so clueless sometimes?

"Oh no! I'm late!"

"For what?" I asked.

"In a hurry?"

"Yes! Shotten's gonna start!"

"You gonna be okay?!" Ichigo asked her. "Want me to walk you home?!"

"Huh?! N-No, I'm fine!"

"Okay! See you tomorrow then!"

"Huh? Um... Kay! See you tomorrow!" I sighed and smiled at the girl.

"Such a strange girl."

"Just watching her makes me tired," Ichigo sighed. "I hope she's all right."

"She will be," I tried assuring him. "He's just clumsy."

"That girl," we both turned to Rukia. "Are you three close?"

"Not really," Ichigo told her. "Well, kinda, I guess."

"We're not best friends or anything, but we've been in the same class a long time," I told her.

"She's best friends with this girl I've known since 8th grade," Ichigo finished saying.

"Any siblings?"

"Just an older brother," I told her.

"He was a lot older than her and he practically raised her."

"Had?"

"Yeah. He died three years ago," Ichigo told her. "I remember because I opened the door. I was just about to leave for school. The doorbell rang before we were open. A girl came in carrying her brother on her back."

"They'd said it was a car accident," I finished. "He was covered in blood, but we didn't have the equipment to save him. He died while dad was trying to arrange his transfer to a hospital. We only recently found out that the girl was Orihime."

"What's with all the questions?" Ichigo asked her. "Are you worried about her?"

"No. I'm not worried."

"Then what's wrong?" I asked.

"C'mon! We're going home too!" Rukia ordered.

"Hey... where do you go home to? You have a home down here?" Ichigo asked her.

"Does my private like interest you?" She asked him with a cocky look on her face.

"As if! Not in the least!"

"Then don't ask."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say the two of you were going out," I told him.

"As if that would ever happen!"

"Later," Rukia called out to us as she walked away.

* * *

I was doing my homework when I heard Rukia shout out Ichigo's name. What the hell was going on? I got up and went to his room in time to see Rukia hit Ichigo in the head, pushing his soul out from his body in time to see a large hand rip through the bottom of the bed.

"What the hell?!" I shouted in shock. A Hollow appeared from the wall going straight for Ichigo. I separated myself from my body and stood by my brother's side.

"Aim for the head!"

"We know!" Ichigo and I attacked the Hollow, but it only broke off a piece of its mask and the face we saw made my eyes widen. It quickly left and I had to close my eyes in surprise.

"It got away!" Rukia said. "Let's go!"

"Wait!" Ichigo ordered. "What's going on? That was Orihime's brother!"

"Didn't I say that killing them with one blow to the head from behind was the objective? To minimize the chance of injury, but there's another reason for it," Rukia told us. "One blow to kill them so you never learn the Hollow's human identity! All Hollows were living people once!"


End file.
